Chairman of Nigeria’s Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has revealed that he was forced to flee his home and now lives in a secret location under armed police protection after receiving death threats linked to his tax reform efforts.
Speaking during a live radio interview on Nigeria Info FM, Oyedele said the threats began shortly after he announced a clampdown on more than 60 government agencies illegally collecting taxes and levies across the country.
“I had to pack out of my house,” he said. “I rented a place in a secret location where I now live. I’m not the kind of person that wants anybody carrying a gun to follow me around, but I had to accept mobile police protection.”
Oyedele, a former Africa Tax Lead at PwC, has led the drive to simplify and clean up Nigeria’s tax system. He described the backlash as unexpected but driven by powerful individuals who had turned tax collection into a personal revenue stream.
“These are not small boys and girls,” he said. “They are big people with deep connections and resources. So naturally, they would resist any effort to block those illegal streams.”
He said the impact of the threats also took a toll on his family. His wife, he disclosed, has been fasting every night out of fear for his life, unable to sleep and barely able to function during the day. His 80-year-old mother, troubled by media reports, also began fasting and eventually developed an ulcer from the emotional distress
“There’s this bit of sacrifice that people don’t see,” Oyedele said. “If you’re not in the public sector to steal money, it is not attractive at all.”
The new tax laws championed by his committee were signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on 26 June. The four Acts the Nigeria Tax Act, Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Nigeria Revenue Service Act, and Joint Tax Board Act will take effect from 1 January 2026.
The laws aim to simplify tax compliance, eliminate illegal tax collection by government agencies, and ensure that low- and middle-income earners are protected.
Under the new system, Nigerians earning N110,000 or less per month will no longer pay Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax. Middle-income earners will see reductions, while only those earning above N2 million monthly will pay more, with the top tax rate now set at 25 percent.
Oyedele said this change is about fairness. “Those earning the most are being asked to contribute slightly more. These are largely executives or business owners who have the capacity to do so.”
He also explained that despite earlier speculation, the government has dropped plans to increase VAT. Instead, the new law exempts essential goods and service including food, housing, healthcare, education, and transport from VAT. These items are now “zero-rated”, which allows producers to recover input VAT and lower their production costs.
“We should not overburden businesses with cost,” Oyedele said. “Those costs have now been removed.”
He stressed that the goal of the reforms is not just to raise revenue but to improve economic fairness and boost productivity.
“We didn’t set out to do reform so that we can collect more revenue for government,” he said. “The objective was to make the system work for everyone, particularly people below the middle class.”
Although the threats have lessened since the reforms were signed into law, Oyedele believes they exposed the scale of corruption surrounding Nigeria’s tax system.
“Now that the laws have been signed, there’s really no point for anybody to hurt me,” he said. “Even if anything happens to me now, I will die a happy person, because Nigerians will remember there was a guy who was trying to help his country.
He commended President Tinubu for the political will to back the reforms even when they attracted political heat. “We didn’t brief Mr President before most of these actions,” he said. “Yet he took all the blame, never distancing himself from us.”
A nationwide public education campaign is expected to begin soon to raise awareness, especially among low-income earners and small businesses, to ensure they benefit from the tax reliefs and are not extorted by uninformed officials.
Oyedele says that come January 2026, Nigerians will begin to feel the real impact of the reforms. “As people collect their salaries, they will see their net pay rise, even without a salary increase,” he said. “That’s the microeconomic benefit.”
